Oil

Cover good, print good. Nice to be able to read old books.

"Oil!" can barely be said to be the basis of the movie "There Will be Blood." The movie is a new millennium monologue representation of a dialogue showing the struggle of two classes dramatized in the book. In "Oil!" the oil man's son is the vehicle for the struggle of ideas between his capitalist father and his worker-oriented union organizer friend, Paul. In a perfect caricature of present-day society, the movie entirely omits the working-class side of the debate which in the book is viewed through the eyes of the oil man's son. In a world where huge media corporations now dominate the worldwide flow of ideas, a world from which ideas favorable to the working person are entirely absent, the movie "There Will be Blood" takes a book which is about a dialogue between two classes and turns it into a monologue. In other words, the movie ripped out the guts of the book. The really interesting questions in the book were entirely omitted such as: In the book the father struggling against the huge oil companies---reflecting the fight of the medium and small business person to survive against huge corporate interests. Most importantly, the son being friends with Paul, the radical labor organizer. This friendship and the pull of Paul's ideas places the "young oil prince" in a severe conflict with the circumstances of his birth, and that is the basic conflict of the book--entirely missing not only from the movie but from "mainstream" media. If you've seen the movie, the book becomes particularly interesting so you can see what is being withheld from you. If you do decide to read the book, the prose is in an older historical style, not the style that flows from computers, so be ready to adjust to a different style. Also, there are some long paragraphs about how wooden oil derricks are constructed, and I recommend that you skip these unless you have some tremendous interest in wooden oil derricks of the past.

Upton Sinclair (1878 - 1968) ist den meisten - wenn überhaupt - durch "Der Dschungel" bekannt. Er war ein hervorragender Sozialkritker des US amerikanischen Staates und Gesellschaftssystems. Leider ist die Verfilmung weit weg von der Qualität und der Story des Buches. Sehr lesenswert... Außerdem zu empfehlen von ihm "The Carpenter".

Sinclair's writing style is gregarious, repetitive. He hits you on the head with the 'poor working class stiff' schtick, but if you can get past it, what he's describing is actually quite interesting. Sinclair's book is a worthwhile read not only for its striking similarities to our own times, which many people have already stated. But his depictions of the early 20th century in southern California, the social mores, the living conditions, the locations -- are all his images, as he experienced them, or imagined them. They may not have been 'real' but they are certainly what we no longer experience. Los Angeles and Long Beach with derricks, dirt road travelling, working class lives, oak forests in places no longer existant, oil derrick explosions. It was incredibly interesting to read Sinclair's version of how derricks were built, maintained, and occasionally destroyed. Highly recommended for California early 20th century history buffs.

Surprising content from a book published over 100 years ago. The projections of dishonesty, graft, social and political issues is amazingly similar to today’s world. Despite the obvious recognition so long ago we are still saddled with these problems today. PS - it is a ‘bit’ of a long read.